Residual Stress Removal Under Pulsed Electric Current

The effect of a pulsed electric current on the residual stress evolution of metal materials has been investigated.It was found that the surface and internal residual stresses in the as-quenched samples were reduced dramatically by electropulsing.A large number of experimental data show that the residual stress reduction is proportional to the initial residual stress and related to the material properties and electropulsing parameters.Under the combined actions of drift electrons,Joule heating,and residual stress,the dislocation mobility was enhanced,resulting in plastic strain and the decrease in residual stress.Drift electrons played a unique role in the electropulsing treatment,acting as an additional force pushing dislocations forward.The dislocations ultimately accumulated at a grain boundary,forming a parallel arrangement.Finally,the phenomenological equation of the residual stress evolution under electropulsing was derived from the experimental data.